UFC 100 and Fan Expo recap (with pics)
BY CONNER CORDOVA
UFC 100 has been hyped as many things, Epic, Electric, Phenomenal, but in my opinion, Historic covers all the bases. Not only were the fights memorable, but you could feel UFC fever all through the week leading up to the event. Hotels swelled in seas of Tapout, Toe2Toe and Sinister apparel; Mobs of fans waited in anticipation outside the doors of the Event center just in the hope of getting a pic or sig from their favorite fighter.
Pre-fight was a whirl-wind of activity and preparation. Cage set up, sound checks, press conferences, seat arrangements’, weigh ins all were all seemingly thrown together in perfectly planed chaos. Managers looked as if they were going to pop a blood vessel at any second from the monsoon of press that surrounded and trapped the biggest names in the game. The fighters, well as usual, were there to make the fans day as great as possible, signing and smiling for cameras for hours at a time.
The Expo was a sight to behold, the true nerd…nes of the fans was brought out in spades. People traveled across the nation to come to this giant MMA nerd fest. I had my moments of twitterpation like any fan… moments may not be the best word…um… the constant sustained frame of mind that is “geeked is more like it. Hey, It was MMA Mecca for goodness sake.
Everywhere you looked there were superstar. Royce Gracie and Rampage at the Pride booth, Wanderlei Silva at Xience, Jens Pulver, Mike Brown and Jamie Varner at WEC, and Lyoto Machida at the UFC’s to name but a few. The cherry that topped off the event was the induction of Chuck “the Iceman” Liddell and Charles “Mask” Lewis. Both were truly heart-felt and bitter sweet. I was backstage at the induction, the Iceman was more nervous then I have ever seen him before a fight. And he was visabley shaken at the induction and kind words for his friend Mask.
The fights… oh man the fights. I mean did you guys see the Buffer 360, it happened, IT HAPPENED!!! All the fights were great, never a dull moment in the whole card. I swear the fans must have had cabin fever or something because they were freakin CRAZY! Everyone was intent not to miss one second of a single fight, It was a sprint to the men’s room anytime you had to go. One unusual thing I found though, was the line for the men’s was huge… and no line for the womens. The women were not going to miss a second of GSP.
Just another historic instant of UFC 100.This event lived up and far surpassed the hype that was so adamantly expected from the fighters, and the UFC. From the roar after Bisbings fall, the relentless chanting of “GSP”, to the birth of the UFC’s newest Bad guy, the whole experience was truly, historic.
